Bitcoin Forum

I'm pretty new to all of this and was just wondering... like how do I know downloading any given wallet isn't going to give someone access to my files or install malware or something on my computer?

The best wallet to download is the bitcoins official wallet which is bitcoin core.

You can trust it while you are blind, you can download it from the link that's below "Total time logged" counter.

Better to go for a paper wallet, if you want to be safe, and keep it offline

Goto bitaddress.org and save the page as a html file on your hard drive, then disconnect from the internet and create a few paper wallets.

Deposit your coins into them. It's a start. There are other threads dealing with security, just browse the forrum.  ;)

You can use any PC on your wallet since it is free of virus.
Once installed it will take to synchronize.
You can use the blockchain.info as online wallet, its practicality, but make sure that your connection and password is secure.

+1

This is a good solution too, the main purpose of paper wallets to be secret.

So now, you have online and offline option.

Why you not use blockchain.info? He is so comfortable and safe :)

Other this, for create a wallet, it is require only one minute of your time :D

The OP is new here and we are trying to give him more than an alternative.

Blockchain is good also, no doubts.

So is downloading wallets for altcoins generally a bad idea?  ???

No, why ?

Kindly don't mess between altcoins and bitcoin.

altcoins, are the alternative coins, which is any other coin alternative to btc, like litecoin and dogecoin for example.

Google it, and then search it on the forum. I recommend Core more, though, since you can't go wrong with it.


No. Every other crypto has their own wallet. You can't use a Bitcoin wallet for a Litecoin wallet, or a Dogecoin wallet, or whatever the newest buzz coin is.

All legit wallets are open source.

Or something like blockchain.info. But even with that I'd be careful.

bitcoin-qt core client always a safe-bet.

blockchain.info one of the more reliable web-wallet based services imho.

I personally use a combination of multibit, bitcoin-qt, and blockchain. Blockchain has private keys to a few "hot" addresses where a small sum of bitcoins I might want to spend are kept. It is used for day-to-day transactions. Multibit, on my personal laptop, stores larger sums of bitcoins that I might need to partially move to the hot wallet. It's meant to be secure against theft, and inadvertent spending of too many coins, as when the hot wallet is depleted, I'm aware of my need to move coins about.

Bitcoin-qt keeps (on a secure machine that is rarely connected to the network) keys for cold-storage.

In addition, I have the addresses (as watch-only) imported into blockchain.info, so in case of any spends from them (whether mine, or a thief's), I know quickly.

blockchain.info does not actually have access to your funds, although some web wallets, such as coinbase, do.  I'd stay away from those if you want to be safe.  Blockchain.info is a great place to keep bitcoin for day-to-day spending.

Go to bitcoin.org. That site will point you to legitimate wallets.

Thanks for your help guys. Another question:

Is there any danger to making transactions on an unsecure wifi network? Like will someone somehow be able to access my wallet if it's unencrypted and I'm using it at a coffee shop or something? The ins and outs of computer security have been difficult for me to wrap my head around in the past.

To be honest, this is why I miss a lot of altcoin pumps. I'm terrified to download wallet software from these unknown people, who are most likely just trying to get rich quick on a pump and dump, but could possibly be giving out malware to steal bitcoins....

True. If you don't have the private key, you don't have the bitcoin. :)
Blockchain.info is good, but it is better to enable 2FA.

Indeed, downloading new altcoins' wallet clients is not a good idea as it may contains malware in it.
FYR: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=349072.0

There are indeed wallet clients that can help you manage multiple coins in one single program.
One example is Ufasoft Coin. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=58821.0

There is a list of wallets you can use
The Best Wallet is Bitcoin Core but there are different ones you can use as well
https://bitcoin.org/en/download
OR
https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet

Yeah, I'm more referring to the being careful about other attacks like phishing which are much more common aginst blockchain.info accounts. Like recently and possibly to this day the sponsored result when you google blockchain.info is a site that says it goes to blockchain.info but it's really just a phishing site that will empty your account.

you may want to familiarize yourself with GPG signatures. that way, when developers release something, you can see that it is properly signed, ensuring that you are receiving the file that the developer intended.

Transactions are public knowledge. They have to be -- they are sent to everyone for verification and eventually end up in the block chain. They are  not encrypted and contain no secret information. The only downside to sending a transaction over an open wifi, is that a hacker can potentially determine that the transaction came from you.

Also, it is very important to encrypt and back up your walllet before sending any bitcoins to it. Then if someone does gain access to your computer, or you lose it, your bitcoins are still safe.

This works for well-known developers, and I fully agree. For Bitcoin QT or MultiBit, for instance, you can depend on this. With altcoin wallets, the developers are often unknown anyway, so it's still a big risk.

yeah, i miss out on a lot of altcoin action because I'm just too scared to touch the software. what i should do is get another cheap laptop to mess around with altcoins -- not for online/offline bitcoin storage.

It's the best way to find some good wallet on the bitcoin.org and maybe ask friends what they use. I used Armory and i don't suggest you to use it since it's data got corrupted and i had problems getting my BTC out of it.

Just downloaded the bitcoin-qt and it's taking forever to download the blockchain  ???

Think I'll just carry on using blockchain.info for now

Use Multibit then, It only takes a minute or so to download the blockchain.

If you don't want to download all the 20GB+ blockchain data, you could use SPVs like Multibit and Electrum.
blockchain.info is good as well, and you should enable 2FA and make encrypted backups as well. :)